Bollywood hot beauties will be doing a Hollywood flick together. Bips and Ash are the two hotties of the Bollywood who are much talked about for their international project. The Hollywood actor, famous for playing Mahatama Gandhi and winning an Oscar for it, is all set to play the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan in an […]
Archive for September 29th, 2007
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Microsoft to bless Facebook with a $10 billion valuation?Posted by: in Employment opportunitiesFiled under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)
Apparently, it looks like the software giant is angling to buy a 5% position in the super-popular social networking site. The amount would range from $300 million to $500 million, which could put a value of $10 billion on Facebook. Of course, such things can be dicey. But, for Microsoft, the amount is chump change. Besides, Microsoft needs to show that it has some dot-com magic against rivals like MySpace, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). In other words, an investment would be more than just making money - it would be an important strategic move. That is, Facebook may become a big adopter of Microsoft online technologies, such as its advertising platform. Also, if Facebook is fetching such a nosebleed valuation, what could MySpace be worth? Maybe it’s time for Murdoch to think about strategic alternatives with the website, such as a public offering? Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Filed under: Video Games  ‘Halo 3′ was already selling like gangbusters long before it was even released. Having finally been delivered into the sweaty palms of gamers a mere 60 hours ago, the game has now gone on to set a new record as the biggest video-game debut of all-time. In the 24-hour period following its release at 12:00AM on Tuesday, the game is estimated to have sold enough copies to rake in $170 million. That tops the $125 million release ‘Halo 2′ broke records with back in 2004; it even tops the $148 million opening weekend gross for ‘Spiderman 3,’ the current record holder for the movie biz. ‘Halo 3′ is receiving rave reviews across the board, and after the time we’ve clocked playing some Legendary online co-op, we can say that the praise is most definitely deserved. From AOL Money & Finance Related Links:
Drawing upon one of his childhood loves, comic book art, Andy pointed out the numerous parallels between comic books and web page layout. Bandying around references to and artwork by comic artists both celebrated and obscure (Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbon) Andy highlighted the progression between panels in a comic book (some follow an obvious order; others require a lot more deductive reasoning). As it does in the movies, this technique adds drama by not explicitly showing every detail. In addition, following an established convention to build trust and familiarity, then busting out of that convention occasionally, is an effective way to create timing for a story, or for a user scanning a page. Andy also mentioned the rhythm of a page, as defined by its layout. On the Web, similar rhythm can be created by using borders, background images/colours, contrast (font weight). It’s useful to think about the amount of time we want someone to look at our content when laying it out. While it might not be appropriate to splash exaggerated sound effect captions across our sites, we can still use conventions for drawing a reader’s eye across the page too — for example, by using contrast, images, headings or slightly rotating a container that the user would normally expect to be perfectly aligned. In comics, bigger panels translate to slow storytelling, and small, thin panels can create a much faster, more frantic pace. Thinking about a product page, it’s easy to see how a user is likely to spend more time dwelling on a larger picture than a collection of much smaller images. Andy touched on the topic colour, and suggested that in comics and on the Web, colour doesn’t always add something. e.g. Sin City is mostly monochrome, but the splashes of colour really stand out. He concluded by comparing the evolution of the Web as a medium to that of comic books, which originally had limitations on the stock used, and therefore, the colours that could be applied. On the Web, we’ve now evolved from the web-safe colour palette and the lowest common denominator, so this should give us more freedom to take advantage of the medium and explore it to its full potential. After his presentation, Andy also introduced the CSS Eleven, a collection of standards-based designers whose goal it is to help the W3C’s CSS Working Group evolve the CSS3 specification. Great to see three SitePoint authors, Cameron Adams, Jina Bolton and Jonathan Snook, on the team! This article provided by sitepoint.com.
 The Solo from Sling has just been launched, and it boasts a bevy of connections. Tipped to be Sling’s most popular model, the Solo supports up to 1080i from a cable box, be it regular or digital, DVR, satellite receiver, and Apple TV. Whenever you’re traveling around, you can still control these boxes at home, allowing you to change channels on the TV while streaming the show over the Internet to your computer or mobile device. Connectivity is extended to component as well as USB, although there is no confirmation as to whether the USB port allows you to hook up to an external drive or not. You can pick one up today for $180, although it is currently depicted as “Out of Stock”. Pretty popular, huh? Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones Filed under: Peripherals
In spite of what Sony is officially saying, it appears that PS3’s upcoming rumble-ready controller, the DualShock 3 performs better than the DualShock 2. Kojima Productions’ Ryan Payton was grilled by 1UP about the new controller if “it’s safe to definitively say that the rumble in the Dual Shock 3 is better than the rumble in the Dual Shock 2.” The answer? “Absolutely, yeah. It feels better, and I think Shane experienced that too.” Our hands-on time at TGS didn’t reveal a significantly better rumbling experience, even when playing Metal Gear Solid 4. So, what’s going on? Is it a placebo effect? Who should we believe? 1UP and Kojima Productions? Or Sony? Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Filed under: Gaming  A hacker called “AhMan” has created a software mod that enables two PSPs to play PSOne games over an adhoc WiFi connection, although apparently this software is in early development — really, when isn’t this kind of hack? For now the evidence is a YouTube video showing a pair of PSPs playing synchronized two player PSOne games, so we’ll have to give them to benefit of the doubt that it’s actually legit. If it is, you should be able to procure the software required within a reasonable amount of time: if you’re willing, of course, to jump through the usual series of firmware related hoops to get there.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life! Filed under: Lush Life, Far East, Food Gadgets
[via Trends in Japan] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments A Miniature One-Handed 3D Motion Controller by Kynan Eng that I saw at Interact 2007. Abstract Users of three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) and Filed under: Computers, Google  Consumer advocacy site The Consumerist has spotted a story out of Fort Worth, Texas of a woman using the power of Google to fight an illegal tow. Dottie Kitchen had her ride jacked by a local tow company (for reasons not explained) and was slammed with a stiff $600 fine. After forking over the cash to free up her wheels, Dottie took to Google to do some recon on Preferred Auto Adjusters — the company that had been holding her car for ransom. As it turns out, the tow shop had had its license revoked during the time Dottie’s car had been towed. Though the license was reinstated shortly after, Dottie realized her car had been towed illegally. She got her money back, and now Preferred could be in the hole for as much as $30,000 in fines for illegally towing Dottie and several others during that time it didn’t have a license. Who needs superheroes these days when we’ve got Google? From The Consumerist Related Links:
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Over the past couple weeks, there’s been lots of chatter that 
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Disposable chopsticks have never been thought of glamorous. And there’s almost always a problem getting the wooden utensils to break cleanly at the seam. Despite their decidedly downscale image, one Japanese company has given the sticks a luxe makeover. No, they haven’t been iced out by Jacob the Jeweler. Kinbashi 
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